Social Media Rating Doesn’t Win Election-Kwame Nyamekye To NDC
A member of the ruling NPP government Kwame Nyamekye has revealed that the tactics the NDC wanted to adopt by using social media to run down the NPP government will not work and such platform doesn’t win election.
According to him, it early days yet with campaigning, but it seems the campaign approach for either of our bigger political parties are glaringly staring at us; just that the NDC has still not been clear yet, with respect to a specific campaign approach/strategy but one could easily infer that, NDC wants to win this election through the media, as they think Akufo Addo did same in 2016.
It’s clear from the camp of NPP now, that, as an incumbent party, they do not have a good image in the media; either traditional or new media. Arguments could be made that, it’s not that bad for NPP in the traditional media though, since there are many media houses owned by some party bigwigs.
The problem, however, is social media. Which exposes individuals to be cyber bullied by those with opposing views. With government not being their favourite on social media, it is conclusively obvious that those who are not deep necked in politics fear to openly campaign or advocate for NPP to save himself or herself from being attacked and insulted. Notwithstanding, their commitment to the party remains resolute evidenced in 2020, prior to the general elections; Mahama practically won almost every social media poll conducted; but, at the end, he lost the main election with more than 517k votes.
The situation wouldn’t be different, might even be worse, for this election.
From hindsight, it seems the NDC is greatly capitalizing on this, because they still believe Akufo Addo beat Mahama in 2016 with same strategy. One thing the NDC do not pay much attention to, is the fact that, although Akufo Addo had greater ratings in the media prior to election 2016; his Free SHS policy had been well disseminated since 2008 into the minds of the poor and grassroots, which won the hearts of many voters already; including some other promising policy ideas for almost every sector. Forget about a certain two terms convention in our democracy, coupled with a better media ratings, Akufo Addo could have still won election 2016 anyway; maybe with a comparatively lesser margin.
The reality now is; as it has been all the time, as a party in government for two successive terms, there’s no doubt with respect to bad media ratings. One great question the NDC must ask themselves now is; “although Ghanaians are fed up with this government, but have we proved to Ghanaian voters that we are the ultimate alternative”? An answer to this question could help the NDC to know where they belong. A dislike for an incumbent party is never an automatic endorsement for the opposition.
The NPP has been strategically bold and smart enough, to admit that it’s almost impossible trying to win the social media sympathy at this time. Having in mind the socio-economic status of Ghanaians, vis-a-vis level of education, there are more votes down there, to be won, than those on social media. For that matter, let’s carry our messages down to the grassroots, engage them directly, explain in simple terms, what we have under our sleeves, and win the trust of this bigger electoral constituency/college. Note that in our jurisdiction, people’s reason for voting a particular candidate might sound trivial; just a hug, handshake or picture with the Flagbearer alone, could be a reason to vote for this candidate. Bawumia’s first campaign tour nationwide, was a retail campaign. Get to ghettos, markets, palaces, churches, youth groups etc for a direct encounter; which actually received a positive response nationwide. With this, the NPP is putting their destiny into their own hands, without necessarily being gaslighted by a certain social media endorsements, most of whom don’t even show up to vote on the election day.
From all indications, Mahama’s strategy of winning this election through the media, has made the NDC a bit complacent, lazy and ineffective with their campaign, just by outcomes of polls figures they have been seeing. No two elections are the same, unlike 2016, the youth are getting well informed on national issues, for that matter, people are no longer going to hero-worship those who claim to be neutrals, we are no longer going to easily swallow every opinion from them; and this will reduce the one way direction social media opinions, which for a fact, wouldn’t favour the NDC as it did for Akufo Addo in 2016.
With increasing rate of misinformation, disinformation and propaganda through the media in this “silly” political season, one can not rely solely on the media to win elections, hence, the need for a proper face-to-face retail campaigning, for electorates to hear from the horse’s mouth. Mind you, this is Ghana, not UK or USA. One could argue that an incumbent party wouldn’t campaign tirelessly had they performed better as claimed; fair enough. But have in mind also, that a governing party wouldn’t avail themselves to the grassroots to be questioned if they aren’t proud of their performance. Election 2024 has its own uniqueness in this 4th Republic, where both presidential candidates have administrative records to advance, whether good or bad, to market themselves. This is going to help voters to simply choose the better option between both candidates. Interests in public and political issues have shot up since election 2016, people now have several mediums to be well informed on issues; separate facts from fiction, cowards from supposed neutrals, and therefore do not take hook line and sinker from a certain demigods in our media space. With this, voting dynamics by media influence would have an interesting twist from 2016; one of the disguised political effects of Free SHS.
Incumbent parties are mostly arrogant, and therefore fail to campaign aggressively, with a certain sense of incumbency advantage leading to higher voter apathy; NPP suffered in 2008, whilst NDC suffered same in 2016. Voter turnout of 69% in 2016, remains the worst in Ghana elections since 2000; something the current NPP wants to prevent; through a spirited stronghold resurrection and awakening, to give their party base a reason to show up and vote on election day.
As we speak, the NDC has not yet communicated “properly”, any headline policy. Their deficient 24hours Economy thing doesn’t resonate with the rural folks, as it were the case for Free SHS in 2016. Note that the actual and committed voter loyalty come from rural areas and grassroots, if you can’t get them to swim in your direction, then you have a bigger hurdle come December. Arguably the NPP candidate favours the grassroots than NDC’s; the real turning point for this election.
We live to learn, my thoughts though.
Your usual noisemaker;
Kwadwo Nyamekye Bigbrain.
Grandma’s Grave.
